It can be incredibly rewarding to train a dog and watch them master the nuances of good behavior. Your friends, family, and neighbors will certainly appreciate all of your hard work and your fluffy friend just might become the talk of the neighborhood for being so well-behaved. However, some dogs are more challenging to train than others. While it may take more work and effort on your part to train your dog, it’s still worth investing your time in. In this article, we offer some suggestions on how to effectively train a dog that resource guards.

What is Resource Guarding?

Dogs may find a number of different things valuable, such as toys, food, or household items. However, some dogs may act aggressively if you attempt to retrieve an item from them. Your dog may snarl, lunge, stiffen, or even attempt to bite something that tries to take their toy or food. While this behavior helps feral dogs survive in the wild, it is less-than-ideal for domesticated animals. Obviously, if your dog harms someone, you can find yourself facing a costly dog bite lawsuit in Geneva. If you have a dog that resource guards, it’s important to curb that behavior before you or someone else get seriously hurt.

Discovering That Your Dog Resource Guards

It might sound rather silly, but the first step towards addressing your dog’s behavior is finding out whether or not resource guarding is even a problem. Most owners won’t know that their dog resource guards until it begins exhibiting aggressive behavior. Pay attention to your pet’s body language, especially when you are around “their” items. Some of the potential signs of resource guarding include:

• Standing guard over an item
• Staring at you
• Your dog showing the whites of their eyes
• Raised lips
• Bared teeth
• Low growling

Your dog may exhibit some combination of these behaviors. Any dog breed may exhibit these troublesome tendencies, as a dog’s early environment factors into whether they feel the need to aggressively protect what they see as their own. A dog that resource guards will not distinguish between people and animals that may attempt to take something from them and random passersby. This makes resource guarding particularly dangerous, as your dog could snap at a random person walking by if they judge that there is a threat to their possessions.

How to Stop Your Dog From Hoarding Resources

One of the best ways to prevent resource guarding is to nip bad behavior in the bud. By noticing and addressing poor behavior early on, you prevent bad habits from developing. Start training your pup at an early age to ensure they are well-behaved. Of course, in some cases it is not possible to begin training your dog while they’re still a puppy. Perhaps you choose to adopt an older dog at the shelter or welcome a family member’s pet into your home when they can no longer care for it.

If you’re training a dog that already exhibits resource guarding, it’s important to be cautious. You don’t want to be bitten or expose other people to unnecessary risks. To begin with, don’t leave objects out for your dog to steal. You can begin training to desensitize your dog to your presence. Doing so teaches your dog that someone approaching is a good thing that can lead to rewards, not punishment.

Take your dog and one of the items they like to guard to a safe environment. Walk by your dog and toss them some food, such as a bit of chicken or a hot dog, as you go by. Keep a significant distance between yourself and your pet, ideally six-to-eight feet. Don’t stop moving and observe the dog’s behavior as you pass. If the dog exhibits aggressive behavior, such as a curled lip or growling, you’ve gotten too close. Repeat the exercise several times and see if your dog’s demeanor becomes more friendly. You can carefully move slightly closer as your dog’s behavior improves.

Taking Care of a Dog That Resource Guards

Resource guarding behavior can be very stressful and frustrating for dog owners. It’s important to stay calm and patient. Do not attempt to punish your dog by taking their food or toys, as this generally just makes their behavior even worse. Use positive reinforcement to show your dog that you can be trusted around the items they value. If normal training methods aren’t working, bring in a professional animal trainer to ensure your dog gets the help they need.